As is evident, in printing equipment using type characters, provision must be made for inking the type. For this purpose an inking roll is generally used. Conventionally, a character ring having type characters on the peripheral edge thereof is rotated continuously and an inking roll is brought in contact with said periphery. The mechanism involved in carrying out this process is costly, has relatively short life and must be made with great precision. Such features are undesirable, especially with respect to small-sized printing equipment so that it would be desirable to provide a printing mechanism which is simpler, lower in cost, quiet in operation and long-lasting.